Koki Hirota

Koki Hirota (14 February 1878-23 December 1948) was the Prime Minister of Japan from 9 March 1936 to 2 February 1937, succeeding Keisuke Okada and preceding Senjuro Hayashi.

Biography
Koki Hirota was born on 14 February 1878 in Chuoku, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. He graduated with a law degree from Tokyo Imperial University, and he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; from 1928 to 1932 he served as the ambassador to the Soviet Union. In 1933, he served as Prime Minister Makoto Saito's Minister of Foreign Affairs, retaining the title under Keisuke Okada after Saito's assassination. In 1936, the Imperial Japanese Army chose Hirota to replace Okada as Prime Minister, and he signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and Italy. After a disagreement with Minister of War Hisaichi Terauchi, Hirota was replaced by Senjuro Hayashi as Prime Minister. In 1938 he was forced into retirement due to his criticism of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but after the end of World War II he was charged with waging wars of aggression and waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China. On 23 December 1948, Hirota was hanged at Sugamo Prison.